January 2015: 50 years after Winston Churchill passed away. He was a remarkable figure, and was at times controversial. When young(er) I read most of his memoirs, unfortunately I lost the book.
Here some remarkable quotes, adapted from Knack Magazine (Belgium):
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Nancy Astor (the first female member of Parliament in England): ‘Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.’ Churchill: ‘If I were your husband I would take it.’
A lady came up to me one day and said “Sir! You are drunk”, to which I replied “I am drunk today madam, and tomorrow I shall be sober but you will still be ugly”.
Author George Bernard Shaw to Churchill: ‘I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend … if you have one.’ The answer of Churchill: ‘Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second, if there is one.’
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
If you are going through hell, keep going.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.
‘No sports’ as an answer to the question how he managed to do so many things in his life.
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried from time to time.
A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.
A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, then asks you not to kill him.
I have never developed indigestion from eating my words.
